Rib-knitting machine.



R. W. SCOTT.

RIB KNITTING MACHINE. APPLIUATION rum) D5021, 19111 1 1 1 4,539.Patented Oct. 20, 1914.

INVENTOR ROBERT w. SCOTT BY HIS ATTORNEY UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIQE.

ROBERT W.- SCOTT, OF BOSTON, MKSSAGHUSETTS, .ASSIGNOR TO' SCOTT &WILLIAMS, INCORPORATED, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OFNEW JERSEY.

RIB-KNITTING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed December 21-, 19:1.

Patented Get. 20, 1914.

Serial No; eemsn.

To all whom it may concern":

Be it known that I, Ronnn'r W. Sco'rr, a citizen of the United States,residing in Boston, Massachusetts, have invented certain Improvements inRib-Knitting Machines, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention" is'to provide a rib knitting machine withweb holders of such a character that knocking over of the stitches fromthe ribbing needles can be effected without the use of weights, draftrolls or the like for imparting tension to the ribbed web, so thatfabric can be dropped from the machine automatically after any givenlength has been knit, and the knitting commencedagain on empty needles.

Heretofo-re in the manufacture of ribbed tops for half hose and theribbed leg portions of footed ribbed hose, it has always been thepractice to knit the tube incontinu ous lengths with welt portions andslack courses formed at suitable intervals, the fabric being thenseparated into suitable lengths by severing it close to the welt andbetween the welt and the slack course portion. Usually a space of aboutone-half inch intervenes between the slack course and the welt, whichportion, after the fabric is sevcred, is used by the operator tofacilitate the placing of the stitches upon the needles of the footingmachine, or upon the impal ing points of a transferring. These surpluscourses are then raveled' away, but when the fabric is severed asdescribed, the raw edge left is extremely difficult to revel andconsiderable loss of time results. If, on the other hand, each piecewere pressed or cast off separately from the needles on the rib knittingmachine, these superfluous courses would be raveled away by simplydrawing out the one loose end. When the ordinary practice is followed,as described above, the welted or selvaged end of the ribbed fabric isleft with each terminal stitch or loop can rying short pieces of yarn,which presents a ragged and unfinished appearance. Moreover, it isimpossibleto sever the fabric in one andthe same course, and thisresults in an unsightly welt. If, however, each separate piece of fabriccan be started with the needles empty, a perfect welt orselvage willFigure 1 is a sectional view of part of a circular knitting machine,provided with special web holders and operating device therefor, inaccordance with my invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional View of. part of a circular knittingmachine-showing the relative positionsof the cylinder or primary needleand the web holders; Fig. 3 is a view partly in plan andpartly insectional plan of the parts shown in Fig. 2; Fig. i is a perspectiveview of one of the web holders; 5

is a view similar to Fig. 2, but illustrating a modification of theinvention; Fig; 6 is a side view illustrating another modification ofthe web holder; Fig. 7 is'a front view of the same, and Fig.8 is anenlarged view in plan, of two dial needles and one cylinder needle withtwo web holders showing the action thereof when at work.

It will be obvious that the needle carriers may be the flat beds of anordinary straight knitting machine, or the cylinder and dial of anordinary circularrib knitting machine, the latter type of machine havingbeen se lected for illustrating my invention. The needles may, forknitting purposes, be projected and retracted in said cylinder and dialby means of cams of the usualcharacter carriedby the cylinder cam ringand dial cam plate, and the machine may have rotary needle carriers andstationary cam carriers or the reverse of this, it being necessary,however, that a clear opening be provided between the carriers as thepresence of dogs would obviously prevent knitted Web from droppingfreely from the needles of the machine- Any. of the well known methodsof maintaining the cylinder in and obviously the primary knitting may beaccomplished on either the cylinder or the dial needles or both may havea primary action, as is customary in some types of knityweb incombination with a distinct web holder which functions in the productionof plain web, but while it has been found in practice that the specialweb holder for the ribbed Web will function well inthe production of theribbed portion of the fabric, its construction and use as shown was opento serious objection. In the first place, it .was located within thecircle of the cylinder needles and below the dial needles, and this notonly made the parts involved difficult of access, but necessitatedseparate web holder carriers and cam carriers therefor. Moreover, whenworking in a vertical plane the strain was applied substantially at aright angle to the direction of movement of the dial needle, and whenapplied at an angle as shown in Fig. 3 of said patent the direction ofpull upon the stitch to be 'knocked over was exerted in a still moreunfavorable direction, in being clear that this "strain would effect theknocking over of the old stitch on the rib knitting needles more readilyif applied in a direction the opposite of that of the movement of thedial needle when the latter is about to cast off its stitch.

In mechanism shown in Patent No. 925,- 036, above referred to, I haveshown a unitary web holder, that is to say, one that might be used inconnection with plain fabric as well as with ribbed fabric, but thisconstruction did not lend itself readi y to the accomplishment of thepurpose in mind,

, nor has it been possible to secure a combination of the parts thatwould operate in a simple and mechanical manner, on account of thenecessity of imparting motion to said web holder in four directions,that is to say, in and out and up and down, with reference tho thehooked end of the cylinder needles.

In this my present invention I have overcome all of the named objectionsto the mechanisms employed in the two patents above recited, byemploying web holders of peculiar form that are set in grooves in theneedle carrier which supports the primary needles, and I secure the d'ed results by a simple to and fro motion of the web holders, and am notobliged to provide separate slotted carrier therefor, all of the partswhich I have added to an or inary rib knitting machine being outside ofthe needles, so that ready access may he had. thereto for adjustment orreplacement of any of the parts.

Referring "to Fig. 1 of the drai'vings, a construction of ordinarycharacter is shown, and I have selected a machine of the stationaryneedle carrier type for illustrative purposes, the bedplate l, carryingthe cog ring 2, which, in turn, carries and supports the various partsof a segmental cam structure 3, upon which is mounteda supplemental camstructure 4, the latter carrying the cams for imparting vertical motionto the web holders. The cylinder 5 carries in its grooves needles of theordinary construction, but somewhat longer, over all, than the needlesof an ordinary rib knitting machine. This increase in the length of theneedle furnishes ample room for the application of the cams in section 4to the butts of the web holders 6; '7 is the ordinary needle dial, 8 theordinary dial cam cap and 9 the spindle upon which these are mounted.

In Fig. 2, I have shown a web holder and needle, greatly enlarged,mounted in their respective slots'or grooves in, the cylinder 5. Thecylinder is preferably reduced in diameter at its upper portion tocorrespond to the depth of the cutting for the shanks of the needles,but at the lower portion the cylinder is enlarged, as at 12, to give thenecessary bearing to withstand the side thrust of the came when they actupon the butts of the needles; I prefer to employ two Web holders foreach cylinder needle, one on each side, as clearly shown in Fig. 3.Theseweb holders are preferably reduced in thickness at their upperends, say from the line 13, so as to provide the necessary yarn room ateach side of the needle, and they are mounted in slots 14, which areform-ed at each side of the groove, which carries the needle, andpreferably of about twice the depth of the needle groove as shown inFig. *2.

The operation of these parts is as followsz rassuming the needles ofboth car riers to be empty, that is to say, having no loops own. them,the latches of tho needles thrown back or opened by the use of anysuitable form of latch opener and the yarn is fed to their hooks by theusual yarn feed or thread carrier, the yarn ordinarily being fed to theprimary needles (in this case the cylinder needles) which as they drawdownwardly lay a bight of the yarn over the dial needles and withintheir hooks. By preference, at this point the draft imparted to thecylinder needles is somewhat less than that used in knitting the rib, sothat the init al coins of the fabric will be of about me it u h as anormal knitted course. After the machine has made one or more TGOlUlIlOIlH, and each needle has at least one loop or bight of yarn inits hook, the secondary or dial needles, if awelt is to be formed, arethrown out of action, out of the path of the cylinder needles, andpermitted to retain their stitches, and several courses (depending uponthe number required in the Welt) are formed upon the cylinder needlesonly. The dial needles are then returned to active position, that is tosay, so that their hooked ends receive the yarn from the cylinderneedles, and the machine now proceeds to produce ordinary ribbed fabric.

The operation of the web holders will be understood by reference to Fig.8. The cams carried by the section 4 act to raise these Web holders at apoint somewhat in advance of the raising of the cylinder needles, whichserves to force the horn 16 of the web holder past the yarn carried inthe hooks of the dial needles so that said horn is brought above the.yarn as shownin Fig. 8. The web holders are now, by preference, slightlylowered so that the lower face 17 of the horn 16 is just barely incontact with said yarn, and they are held in this position while thecylinder and dial needles are both operated by their cams to pass theloops upon them back of their latches and to receive new yarn from theyarn carrier. The cylinderneedles are first retracted to place a bighr.of the new yarn within the hooks of the dial needles and at the sametime the old loop on the cylinder needle is knocked over the new yarn inthe hook of said cylinder needle. The dial needle is now correspondingly retracted so that the old loop upon it is brought into positionfor being cast over the new yarn in 'its hook and at this juncture thecams carried by section 4 on the cam ring act to depress the webholders, which, acting upon the old: loop on each side of the dialneedle serve to cli'ectually cast it over the new loop. At the nextrevoiution of the inaohine the loop previously aciid upon by the webholders has now become the sinker Wale of the ribbed fabric and at eachrevolution these sinker wales are acted upon in i an altogether similarmanner by the horns of the web holders so that the strain is applied tothe loops of the course preceding that which is being drawn by the dialneedi s to effect the knocking of the stitches of said preceding courseover the new thread in the hooks of the dial needles.

When a sufficient amount of fabric has been knit to form the ribbed topor ribbed leg, the needles are'preferably projected and retracted by aspecial cam in advance of the ordinary knitting cam to the end that thestitches carried thereby are cast from the needles and the finishedproduct is thus dropped from the machine, whereupon the yarn is againintroduced to the needles as above described and a continuous productionof separated articles is thus HCCDlIiplished.

While I preferthe fornrof web holder shown in Fig. 2, variousmodifications may be employed without departing from the spirit of myinvention, two forms of which are shown in Figs. 5, 6 and 7. In thepreferred form, shown in Fig. 2, the bottom of the needle groove forms aplatform upon which the needle 11 slides, and, in the usualconstruction, the width of the needle and the width of the groove forreceiving it are substantially the same. Either after or before theneedle grooves are cut, I form comparatively narrow slots 14, one ateach side of the needle groove, and extending a suflicient distancebelow the top of the cylinder to allow of ample movement bein impartedto the web holder. (See Fig. 2.5 These slots are cut back into the body0 the metal of the cylinder substantially twice the depth of the needlegroove, and the front edge of the web holder lies flush with the frontedge of the needle when both are in working position. By thus cuttingthe web holder slots deeper than the needle grooves I am enabled toprovide suflicient bearing for the web holders, which would not be thecase if these slots were of the same depth as the needle grooves.Moreover, the side strain applied to the web holders would tend to bindthe needles between said web holders. This construction is particularlyimportant in line gage nia chines. Where, however, the gages are com-'iaratively coarse, excellent results may be secured by applying a webholder such as that shown in Fig. 5. In this case, the slots for the webholder are of the same depth as the grotwes for the needle, the needlehaving its bearing, as usual, on the bottom of the groove, but notoccupying all of the depth of the same, whereas the web holder 6, Fig.4, occupies with its width the full depth of the slot, the cylinder atthis point, being of nearly the same diameter as the cam surface for thebutt end of the needle.

As before stated, where coarse gages are employed, the side thrust ofthe web holder operating cams is not sufiicient to bend or twist thebutts of the web holders, but where such a tendency occurs, I may employa supporting piece 24, riveted or otherwise secured to one web holder ofa pair, the thickness of which is equal to the space between the twocontiguous faces of any given pair of web holders; this is shown inFigs. 5

and 6. a

As before stated, I have found that the best results are secured whenthe strain is applied both downwardly and toward the cylinder needies,instead of at right armies to the plane of movement of the dial needles,and to accomplish this I prefer to form the under face 17 ofthe webholder horn at an angle of about forty-five degrees, so that whendownward movement is imparted to the web holders engaging the sinkerwales of a course, this angular shape of the under face of the horntends to draw the old loop 5 away as well as down from the retracteddlial needle. The top portion of the horn is also homer preceding lat whh is being formed by tin needles will slip below it, and in order toinsure roper action in this respect I form the dia with notches 29, Fig.3, so that if the yarn of the sinker Wale should by any chance lie closeto the edgeof the dial, the ends of the horns of the web holders playing in these notches would be certain to engage with the yarn.

In machines where it is necessary to knit welts at one edge of sectionsof rib fabric, and where these welt portions consist-of a plurality ofcourses, it becomes necessary to provide means for feeding these coursesof plain fabric over the hooks of, and away rom, the cylinder needles.To accomplish this, I have provided the tops of the web holders with abeveled head, the beveled surface 31 bearing such relation to the hookof the needle that it serves to permit the bight of yarn between theneedles to slip downwardly, so thatthe sinker wales of the plain coursesfinally reach the portions 32 of the web holders, which extend inwardlysome distance beyond the inner faces of the needles, and in practicethis results in feeding the old stitch over the needle hook and awayfrom the needle in the direction of the knitting, and insures a perfectformation of stitch, by preventing the needle from entering the cast offstitch a second time, as would be the case where no weight was employedand no means used for feeding this loop away from the needle.

I claim 1. The combination of the needle carriers and needles of a ribknitting machine with web holders mounted in one of the needle carriersand movable in line with the nee- "les carried thereby, said. webholders having horns for engaging sinker wales ex tending between thestitches of the knitted web.

2. The combination of the ne dle carriers and needles of a rib knittingmachine with web holders mounted in one of he needle carriers andmovable in line with the nee-- ing horns for engaging the sinker walesextending between the stitches of the knitted i web, to knock over thestitches upon one set each an. angle that, as the web the sinker Wale oithe course i of needles, the engaging faces of said horns hen: so termedto draw the stitches that are being knocked over outwardly on the hooi;of the needle as well across the same.

i, The combination of the needle carriers and needles of a rib knittingmachine with web holders flanking the needles of one of the carriers,each web holder being mounted in a groove in the needle carrier whichopens into the needle groove at the knitting edge of the needle carrier.

5. The combination of the needle carriers and needles of a rib knittingmachine with web holders disposed one on each side of each of theneedles of one oi the needle car'- riers, said web holders being mountedin a groove in the needle carrier which opens into the needle groove atthe knitting edge of said needle carrier.

6. A needle carrier for a rib knitting machine, said needle carrierhaving slots for the reception of slidable needles, said slots beingamplified for part of their length to receive web holding devices andsuch amplification extending to the knitting edge of the needle carrier.

7. A needle carrier for a rib knitting machine, said needle carrierhaving slots for the reception of slidable needles, said slots beinganilplified in width for part of their length to' receive web holdindevices flanking the needles such ampli cation extendingto the knittingedge of the needle carner.

8. A needle carrier for a rib knitting machine, said needle carrierhaving slots for the reception of slida'ble needles, said slots theneedle 0311161,

9. A needle carrier for a rib knitting machine, said needle carrierhaving slots for the reception of slidable needles, said slots beingamplified both in width and depth for part of. their length to receiveweb holding devices flanking the needles and of greater depth than thelatter such amplification extending to the knitting edge of the needlecarrier.

10. The combination of the needle carriers and needles of a rib knittingmachine with web holders having herbs for engaging the sinker walesbetween adjoining stitches on the needles, one of said needle carriershaving, between the needle grooves, notches for the reception of saidhorns of the web holders.

11, The combination of the needle carriers and needles of a rib knittingmachine, I with Web holders having horns for engaging name tothisspecification, in the presence of the sinker Wales between adjoiningstitches two SUbSCIiblIlg wltnesses.

i In testimony whereof, I have signed my 1 on the needles, said Webholders also having, ROBERT W. SCOTT.

above the horns, beveled tops Whose inner VVit-nesses: faces proiechinwardly beyond the backs of ARTHUR M. BLADES, the needles along side ofthe same. M. T. Goon.

